According to a report by the Associated Press, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency have confirmed that Syria under the leadership of President Bashar Assad, who was ousted amid civil conflict in 2024, was building a nuclear reactor in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez Zor. The IAEA inspectors visited that site in August, following up on a previous inspection that had detected …
Nuclear fast reactors are capable of breeding more fuel than they consume. I was wondering if it would be possible to design a nuclear reactor that (initially) breeds just a little more fuel than they consume. The breeding ratio will reduce a little over time, but with a felxible design it... Read more
Long after a nuclear reactor goes dark, its radioactive fuel continues to whisper through matter, leaving behind a hidden signal that scientists have detected for the first time. Turning off a nuclear reactor stops the chain reaction, but it does not make the reactor completely quiet. Long after the core goes dark, radioactive fragments left [...]
Oklo’s Groves Isotope Test Reactor became the fifth Department of Energy–authorized reactor to achieve criticality under the agency’s authorization process, it was announced earlier today. Criticality was reached at 9:19 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday at the company’s Groves facility in Lockhart, Texas, according to the DOE.
Sodium Graphite Reactors
By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., 2023-03-13, Reading time: 6 minutes
In the 1950s, hordes of nuclear reactor designers were rushing to find out which combination of coolant, moderator, and fuel types would be the most economical for commercial power production. Along the way, someone came up with the idea of using sodium metal coolant with graphite moderator. It’s a sodiu…
